Civil War and Reconstruction: Manifestations of American Memories. The Civil War and Reconstruction are two of the most important and complex periods in U. S. history that have affected American historical memory. Such periods are best explained by both scholars' analyses and the cultural representation that emerges from the domains of high and popular culture. This essay explores two major historiographical perspectives: the Lost Cause myth and the narrative of the Second Revolution. Applying such sources as works of historians David W. Blight and Eric Foner, as well as, cultural objects such as the Stone Mountain Confederate monument and George Caleb Bingham’s painting "Order No. 11. This essay’s goal is to determine how memory culture impacts …show more content…
Foner also defines Reconstruction as an incomplete revolution which aimed at enfranchising the freed slaves and creating new political rights. However, Reconstruction was not a complete success story given that it was met with lots of resistance from the former master class in the South and finally met its ugly end through racist violence, emergence of Klan and other groups of whites who dominated over the freed slaves through terrorism. Foner takes it a point to note that the inability of reconstruction to deliver equal rights left the nation with race issues that continued to reign in the civil struggles of the twentieth century (Foner, 1988). The frame of the “Second Revolution” provides detailed information on the revolutionary process of Reconstruction and the presence of the resistance voices, which emphasize that the struggle for an adequate position of African Americans remains an essential part of the American history. Thus, Reconstruction can be defined as a rather dramatic period in the US history, both from the viewpoint of social and political development of the countries. Reconstruction as a policy of the federal government of the United States involved numerous legislative …show more content…
The Lost Cause, as defined by David W. Blight, comforts the Confederate cause and the slavery’s participation was not a big deal, on the other hand, the Second Revolution as discussed by Eric Foner is stressing the Revolutionary shifts and the Reconstruction’s work is not over yet. The traveled narratives are shown in cultural representations: the Stone Mountain Confederate monument and George Caleb Bingham’s “Order No. 11”. The sleeve is a sleeve. Monuments about the Confederate, as depicted by SPLC, have not lost their significance and continue to shape the perception of the public on the Civil War. Art in general, therefore, holds a strong position in influencing the collective memory through creating aesthetic narratives that act as a supplement or a counter to the narratives of history. Even so, when considering the Civil War and Reconstruction, it would be quite valuable to pay attention to cultural productions and analyze them in terms of the historical effects and the possibilities of the social transformation they offer. Therefore, it is suggested that by viewing these stories and their encoded cultural references, it helps to understand the real history of America. It’s in engaging with the difficulties and paradoxes of these eras that it’s